Personally, I’m a huge fan of the midwifery model, if you can’t tell. I talk about them a lot in my blogs because I truly believe in the hands-on, personalized and informed care you receive when you choose a midwife as your care provider during pregnancy. When I think of Midwife care, I think of support. Midwives generally have a more holistic approach to caring for expectant parents. It’s not just medical. The Midwifery Group is a Vancouver-based practice that models this type of supportive care.

What makes the Midwifery Group unique?

Located in a convenient storefront on Main St in Vancouver, The Midwifery Group boasts of midwives with many diverse backgrounds based in the arts, the sciences, and from the community. As a team, they have attended thousands of births and have had opportunities to practice midwifery all over the world.

With 9 Registered Midwives in their practice, they work in teams of four to five midwives in order to provide your family with personalized prenatal, labour, birth and postpartum care. During your care, you’ll have the opportunity to meet each of the members of your team and will be offered appointments with all of your midwives so that you can know and be comfortable with whomever is on call the day you go into labour. Your team will also be available to you 24 hours a day through a paging service should you have any immediate concerns or should you need urgent care.

The Midwifery Group offers home and hospital birth with admitting privileges at B.C. Women’s Hospital. All the midwives are registered with the College of Midwives of British Columbia and are also members of the Midwives Association of British Columbia. 

Their team of midwives works very closely to provide a consistent standard of care. Because you want to be sure that whomever is overseeing your appointment or attends your birth has full knowledge of your history, as well as consistent ideas on best practices, the team meets regularly for peer review and professional development. They share responsibility for staying current with research on maternity and newborn care to deliver their clients and their families the highest quality evidence-based care.

What does pre-natal care look like?

With the Midwifery Group, prenatal visits are generally 30 to 45 minutes long, and follow the standard antenatal schedule of every five weeks up to 28 weeks pregnant, every three weeks up to 36 weeks pregnant, and weekly until you have the baby.

Prenatal care includes prenatal ultrasounds, blood work, urine tests, monitoring blood pressure, fetal growth, fetal heart rate and position as it does in most styles of care, but when choosing a midwife, they also focus on the general well-being of mother and baby.  Since pregnancy and parenthood isn’t only about the mother and baby, your partner, support people and your children are welcome to join you at prenatal visits. 

Not in the right area, but excited about the idea of midwife care? I’ve compiled a list of Midwifery Clinics in the Greater Vancouver area to help you find the right one for you!

Once you’ve made a decision on care provider, it’s time to start thinking about maternity and newborn photography! This season goes by so fast, and before you know it, you’ll hardly remember that feeling of little kicks inside you, or how tiny their little feet were. Check out my website to learn more about the maternity and newborn photography experience!